u/Bubbly_Mix7596

Just wanted to share what worked for me on the CISA exam in case it helps anyone else preparing.

I started by watching all of Hemang Doshi’s videos over about a week. If I were doing it again, I’d probably skip these and watch Prabh Nair’s YouTube videos instead. They’re free, and in my personal opinion, I found them much more useful.

After that, I bought the QAE and went through every question. Along the way, I took consolidated quizzes to make sure I was retaining information from the earlier domains. I then took the QAE practice exams and scored 84%, 85%, and 76%.

I also got the Pocket Prep app and completed about 2/3 of the questions. If you use Pocket Prep, I recommend the Level Up mode. The questions start fairly easy and progressively get harder, which I thought was a good way to use the app.

A few pointers from my experience:
I don’t think you need a ton of in-depth technical knowledge to pass this exam. In my opinion, it’s much more important to understand the audit process, the responsibilities of the auditor, and how ISACA wants an auditor to think.

That being said, there were some abbreviations I recognized but couldn’t remember exactly what they stood for. Don’t immediately write those questions off. A lot of the time, the full name or context can give you a pretty good idea of what the technology or process actually does.

My biggest advice would be to focus less on memorizing every technical detail and more on understanding why an answer is correct. By the end of my studying, even when I recognized QAE questions I had seen before, I tried to make sure I could explain why the correct answer was right and why the others were wrong.

I won’t comment on specific questions or topics that appeared on the exam, but I’m happy to answer any other questions about how I prepared.

Shoutout to all the CISAs here who answered my
Questions and helped me prepare. This community was a huge help.

Best of luck to everyone still studying and testing. You’ve got this!

I’ve made my way all the way through the QAE and have been scoring pretty well with an 84, 85, and 76 on the practice tests. I got pocketprep to help reinforce what I learned but I’m running into a couple issues. The first is I don’t know what all of the abbreviations mean so it’s hard for me to answer the question. Hopefully the test doesn’t just give abbreviations. Second, there is A LOT of material in pocketprep that was not in the QAE. I guess what I’m wondering is all this information in pocketprep unnecessary or do I need to spend more time learning all of this?

I’ve completed all the study material in the QAE except the practice tests. I’ve take 5-50 question quizzes and I’m averaging an 81%. Should I go ahead and take the practice tests and see if I’m ready to test or should I try to get that closer to 85-90%.

Hey everyone,

I’ve been lurking in this group for a while, trying to get a realistic estimate of how long I should study for the CISA.
A little background: I have 5+ years of audit experience, including 2+ years in internal audit. I’ve also worked on a few IT audit projects and have already gone through the CPA exam process, so I’m familiar with studying for professional certifications.

I’ve seen people say they studied anywhere from one month to four months. Realistically, how many hours do you think it takes to pass?

Right now, I’m fast-tracking the Hemang Doshi course and expect to finish it in a few days. My goal is just to build a solid foundation and become familiar with the material. After that, I plan to get the QAE database and spend most of my time grinding through practice questions.

My current plan is about 20 hours for the Doshi course, followed by 20 hours per week with the QAE for 4–6 weeks (roughly 80–120 hours). For those who have passed, does that seem like a reasonable plan, or would you recommend a different approach?